If you want to know more about the effects of carbon dioxide emissions, click here
for a more scientific discussion of the subject.

It's well known that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, but just what does this mean, and what are
the possible consequences of global warming?

Radiation from the Sun heats Earth's atmosphere, oceans and land, making life on Earth possible.
The incoming radiation can easily pass through the outer atmosphere in order to reach the Earth,
but much of it cannot escape as the atmosphere acts as a one way valve. Exactly how much of the
radiation escapes the atmosphere depends on the concentration of greenhouse gases (including carbon
dioxide, methane etc) present. However, the so-called greenhouse effect is not a bad thing as
such - without it, the temperature of the surface of the Earth would be -18°C, instead
of the actual value of about 15°C. So what's all the fuss about?

The main worry is that, as previously mentioned, the amount of radiation which escapes depends on
the concentration of greenhouses gases in the atmosphere - carbon emissions add to the
concentration, meaning that less radiation escapes. This means that the surface temperature
of the Earth increases - by 0.6°C ± 0.2°C over the last century.
This may not sound like much, but the warming will increase with time, and could have
disastrous consequences. These might include:

Sea level rise
- densely settled coastal plains would become uninhabitable with just a small rise in
sea level, which would result from melting of the ice caps

Impacts on agriculture
- Global warming could have major effects on agricultural productivity

Reduction of the ozone layer
- Warming would result in increase high cloud cover in winter, giving chemical reactions a
platform in the atmosphere, which could result in depletion of the ozone layer

Increased extreme weather
- A warmer climate could change the weather systems of the earth, meaning there would be more
droughts and floods, and more frequent and stronger storms

Spread of diseases
- Diseases would be able to spread to areas which were previously too cold for them to survive in

Ecosystem change
- As with the diseases, the range of plants and animals would change, with the net effect of most
organisms moving towards the North and South Poles

As you can see, the effects of carbon dioxide emissions could be extremely far reaching and cause major
problems. Even a small reduction in household emissions could help to alleviate the problems future
generations are likely to face.